Sebastian Vettel strolls to victory at Spa-Francorchamps

What made Hamilton a winner in my winners and losers run-down of the Belgian Grand Prix, though, was the fact that Kimi Raikkonen suffered his first retirement since returning to Formula 1 in 2011, and his first non-points score finish the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, where he finished 14th. This meant that Hamilton leapfrogged the Lotus driver into third in the world drivers’ championship. As you will have guessed, the Finn falls very much into the losers’ category for this race.

Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Lotus drives during the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on August 25, 2013 in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Raikkonen, seemed to be struggling with brakes throughout the race; very unusual for Spa given that the Belgian track is not one that is particularly tough on brakes. Nevertheless, we saw the Lotus sitting on the starting grid with smoking brakes and huge clouds of black brake dust coming from the front right disk every time he slowed down.

Lotus revealed after the race that a visor tear off had become trapped in the brake duct, causing the brakes to overheat. Raikkonen and Lotus were never really in contention anyway, though, so a retirement at this race, where they weren’t on the pace of the front-runners, was perhaps not as disastrous as it might have been if they were in the hunt for victory. Still, when the retirement came on lap 26 of the race, it would have been enormously disappointing for Raikkonen, especially given that the three drivers he’s battling with in the championship went on to fill the three podium positions.

Another loser at Spa was Paul Di Resta. After qualifying an impressive fifth, and oh so nearly taking a maiden pole position on Saturday, the Scot went rapidly backwards in the race. Di Resta had dropped to seventh by lap two and outside of the top 10 by lap 20. Just eight laps later he was punted out of the race by Pastor Maldonado, making it three races in a row without a points scoring finish for the Force India driver.

Jenson Button of Great Britain and McLaren drives during the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on August 25, 2013 in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Even though Di Resta’s team-mate, Adrian Sutil, picked up a couple of points for a ninth place finish, the Force India team were very much in the losers camp, too. That’s because they’ve now been overtaken by McLaren in the race for fifth place in the world constructors’ championship. It sounds very odd to say it, but even though Jenson Button only finished where he started – in sixth position – both he and McLaren were winners at Spa. They looked much more competitive all weekend and now look in a strong position to maintain their newly established constructors’ championship lead over Force India.

The biggest winner in Belgium was of course Sebastian Vettel. The reigning world drivers’ champion now heads this year’s standings by 46 points over his nearest challenger Fernando Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton a further 12 points behind. Nevertheless, we head to Monza, Ferrari’s home turf, in two weeks time, where the Scuderia will be determined to put on a show for the adoring tifosi.

There are positive signs that Ferrari and Alonso may well be in a position to challenge Red Bull and Vettel after a much improved performance at Spa. Mercedes and Hamilton are very much in the picture, too, and despite his retirement, Raikkonen sits only five points further back in fourth place in the world drivers’ championship. There are eight races to go, and 200 points still up for grab.